Dress was her passion. She had a most harmless delight in being fine. —NORTHANGER ABBEY
Purchasing clothing is not as easy as going into a shop and choosing something off the rack, and with two or three clothing changes called for daily, dressing properly is a subject that requires close attention.
• Morning dress (Fig. A). Simple styles and sturdier fabrics are best for morning wear, which is worn from the time one gets up until dinner. Plain or sprigged muslins in light colors or darker-colored calico or wool are best for your morning gowns. Because showing your bosom is inappropriate during the day, wear a chemisette, a half shirt rather like a dickey, under your gown, or tuck a fichu, a triangular piece of lace, netting, or gauze, around your neck and into your bodice (Fig. A-1). Either can later be switched out, giving an old dress a fresh new look. If you are married or do not wish to fuss with your hair, wear a cap, but be aware that it telegraphs that you are unavailable for marriage.
Fig. A
• Evening dress (Fig. B). For dinner and afterwards, change into something truly elegant and perhaps even a little daring. Evening is the time for your flimsiest muslins, prettiest trimmings, and whatever family jewelry you can wheedle out of your mother. Low-cut bodices are perfectly acceptable, and a pretty headdress or some beads or flowers woven into your hair will add just the right touch. Younger ladies should stick with muslin gowns, while married or older ladies can wear gowns made of light silk. And remember—a woman can never look too fine when she is all in white.
Fig. B
• Undergarments (Fig. C). Wearing the correct undergarments is important to give your gowns the proper fit and shape.
• First layer—the shift (Fig. C-1). Next to your skin, wear a shift, a basic sack dress with a drawstring neckline and that falls to just above the knee. In addition to providing warmth and modesty, shifts keep clothing cleaner by keeping finer fabrics off the skin.
• Second layer—stays (Fig. C-2). On top of the shift, wear your stays, or corset, to give support to the bust and smooth the torso. Your maid will tie your laces in the back. They should be firmly tied but not so tight that you cannot breathe. Insert the busk, a long, thin strip of bone, wood, or ivory, in the opening that runs along the breastbone to improve your posture.
• Third layer—petticoat. A “waist petticoat” (like a long half-slip), made of muslin or wool, might be worn under a sturdier gown for warmth or modesty (Fig C-3). A petticoat can look like a gown by itself, and is worn as part of an outfit—for instance, a sleeveless gown in a complementary color worn under a transparently gauzy overdress or an open-front robe can be referred to as a petticoat. Such petticoats can be made of muslin or even silk, just like a regular gown.
Fig. C
WOMEN’S UNDERWEAR
Ladies generally did not wear drawers in Jane Austen’s day. After all, what would a well-bred lady be doing that required more coverage for her private parts than a close-fitting floor-length gown provided? Drawers did not come into wide use until crinolines became fashionable in the 1850s, when a gust of wind easily could blow a lady’s skirt up over her head. Some of the very fast and fashionable set did wear various kinds of drawers in the Regency, but they were considered a bit risqué.
That means we may indeed assume, with a high degree of probability, that Jane Austen went commando.
• Outerwear (Fig. D). Outerwear will not only keep you warm, but it is also as much of a style statement as your gowns.
• Pelisse. A long coat that can completely cover a gown, be cut away in front, or only reach to the knees.
• Spencer (Fig. D-1). A coat covering the sleeves and bodice of a high-waisted gown.
• Cloak. Hooded cloaks are usually worn over a skimpy ball gown for warmth, but woolen cloaks are also worn for daytime.
Fig. D
• Gloves. Wear gloves outside at all times for warmth and protection, even in summer; you do not want your hands tanned or freckled as though you work in the fields. Elbow-length white kid gloves should be worn for formal parties. When supper is served, unbutton them at the wrist, slip out your hands, and tuck the gloves back into your wrist so that you do not drag them through the negus. Always wear gloves for dancing, as will your partner; after all, one would not wish to dance with some sweaty-pawed creature.
• Shawl. The cold winter weather makes a shawl a necessary accoutrement at all times when you are not sitting directly in front of a fire. Shawls made of cashmere wool from India, woven in intricate and colorful designs, are practical as well as beautiful. Lighter shawls of embroidered muslin or gauze can be welcome with ball gowns on chilly summer nights as well.
• Hats and bonnets. Wear a hat or bonnet when you go outside in daytime. Leave your bonnet on when paying a short call, but take it off if you mean to stay for a few hours. Do not wear a bonnet or hat to an evening party or ball, though a turban or fancy headdress is fine.
• Caps. Married ladies and spinsters who wish to indicate that they are not available for marriage wear caps made of muslin or lace with morning attire and sometimes for informal evening dress to keep their hair tidy.
• Stockings. Stockings can be very light silk for balls or knitted from wool for warmth in winter. They come to a little above the knee and are held up with garters, which might be knitted or just ribbons tied above the knee (Fig C-4).
• Footwear. Half-boots for riding or walking; dainty slippers, like ballet slippers, for evening, sometimes with decorative roses on the toes. Some ladies wear pattens, wooden slats with metal rings on the bottom, to keep their footwear out of muddy roads.
• Riding habit. A habit is worn for horseback riding, of course, but it can also be worn for traveling or even just around the house for morning wear. Habits are made of sturdy fabrics, fitted like a long coat, and are sometimes a little longer or fuller on one side to accommodate riding sidesaddle. Wear a chemisette with a frilled collar underneath to protect your neck from the sun, and if you are riding, wear a riding hat with a veil to keep insects and dirt out of your eyes. If you are just wearing your habit for traveling or walking, you can wear it with a regular bonnet.
• Walking dresses: A walking dress is like a riding habit, but with fancier trim and worn with a regular bonnet.
• Mourning clothes. Mourning clothes are made of bombazine, a silk and wool mix, or crepe, a crinkly black silk, both of which have a dull finish. Crepe also is used to trim headwear. According to custom, widows should wear mourning dress for twelve months, children for six months, and siblings for three months. For the first half of that time period, referred to as the first mourning, wear full mourning dress, or all black; for the second half, or second mourning, wear one black article of clothing along with white, gray, or lilac. Mourning jewelry such as a ring or brooch with a lock of the deceased’s hair is also worn. For more distant relations, wear black gloves or ribbons or a crepe band on your hat for a few weeks or months, depending on the closeness of the connection, as a sign of respect.
• Wedding clothes. A woman’s father traditionally gives her money to purchase enough clothing to last her a year so she will not put her new husband to immediate expense for her clothing. For the wedding itself, the bride will purchase a new gown that she will wear afterwards for other suitable occasions. The white wedding gown is not compulsory, but since white is such a popular color for gowns anyway, many wedding dresses are white or cream-colored. Wear a pretty bonnet or a hat with a veil attached to the back.
Like women’s clothing, menswear underwent a change at the close of the eighteenth century, moving away from the formal silks and laces of the French court. Men’s fashions are reminiscent of the clothing British men wear for country sports.
• Morning dress. In the daytime, a gentleman will wear a cutaway coat in a plain dark fabric, a style just made for riding on horseback, as well as a waistcoat, breeches or pantaloons, boots, and a snowy linen shirt and cravat.
• Evening dress (Fig. E). For formal evening parties, coats are basic black, worn with a waistcoat (Fig. E-1), knee breeches (Fig. E-2), white stockings, and black shoes with gold or silver buckles. Linen shirts must be spotlessly clean and crisply ironed.
Fig. E
• Undergarments. Traditionally, a gentleman did not wear drawers—instead, he simply crossed the trailing ends of his shirt underneath his crotch inside his breeches or pantaloons. However, as cleanliness becomes more the fashion, more men have taken to wearing knee-length drawers of a knit material to keep breeches or pantaloons from directly touching the skin. These drawers are tied with corset-like strings at the back waist for a close fit and buttoned at the waist, with an opening in the front for convenience.
• Outerwear. For cold weather, every gentleman has a great coat; younger men wear them with as many as sixteen capes around the shoulders to keep out cold, snow, and rain while driving an open vehicle.
• Accessories.
• Hats. High-crowned hats are worn outdoors; for evening, a gentleman tucks a chapeau-bras or bicorne hat beneath his arm.
• Jewelry. A tasteful watch and fob and perhaps a jeweled pin in the cravat are generally worn both for evening and non-active morning wear, though more foppish gentlemen might accessorize with seals dangling from their watch fob and snuffboxes made of precious metals or painted porcelain.
• Cravat (Fig. E-3). Made of spotlessly clean starched muslin, usually white, and tied in any number of fashionable methods.
• Walking stick. In the city, every gentleman has a sleek, elegant walking stick. In the country, a sturdy branch will do to assist one in walking up muddy hills. When paying a morning call, it is impolite to leave one’s hat or walking stick anywhere in the house, lest one be suspected of planning to overstay one’s welcome.
• Hairstyles. The taxation of hair powder spurred an au naturel trend in men’s hairstyles; like the ladies, men’s hairstyles tend to imitate classical statuary, with some gentlemen even sporting an exaggerated windblown look.
LADIES’ HAIRSTYLES, MAKEUP, & BEAUTY TREATMENTS
Powdering the hair was already passing from fashion when a tax on hair powder in 1795 rang the death knell; thereafter, only patriotic old Tories still used the stuff. Early in the period, young women often wore their hair in long curls for the proper romantic look, with ribbons or beads twined through their hair for the evening. Around the start of the nineteenth century, ladies began wearing their hair up off their nape, with a few curly locks loose around their face. Hair was also occasionally worn short, cropped close to the head, and worn either sleek or curly.
For makeup, the natural look was the order of the day—the heavily powdered and rouged look of the eighteenth century was abandoned. However, that did not mean that ladies used no cosmetics at all. Jane Austen’s close friend and housemate, Martha Lloyd, compiled a book of recipes that contained several beauty preparations, including milk of roses, used as a skin lotion; hand soap and softening pomatum; cold cream made of wax, spermaceti (whale oil), oil of sweet almonds, and rosewater; coral tooth powder; and lavender water, which was used both as a perfume and to revive those who had fainted.
In Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot, who is very attentive to everyone’s looks, encourages Mrs. Clay to use Gowland’s Lotion and opines that Lady Russell should use rouge during daylight hours. Gowland’s Lotion was a commercial preparation that contained mercuric chloride, which acted as a chemical peel. No wonder he found ladies’ skin to be “fresher” after they used it! One rather wonders whether the extremely vain Sir Walter used a touch of Gowland’s himself.
